souls :: thiam

f o u r t y - s i x

To Liam's surprise Theo didn't seem as shocked as he was when he found out the evidence was no longer where it should be. All he said was "they probably put it somewhere else", looked away from Liam and continued whatever he was doing. Liam didn't know wether Theo reacted that way to calm Liam down, but in reality it did the opposite.

"Where else should they keep it if not in the safe?"

"I don't know Liam, I'm not the Sheriff.", Theo had replied with a straight face, "Don't worry about it too much."

There wasn't much more to the conversation.

However, Liam could not stop thinking about everything, not even when he was laying in his bed to catch a bit of sleep and Theo has already been asleep for a quite a while; Liam could hear him in- and exhale from afar.

No matter how hard he tried, he would always find himself laying still with his eyes open, staring into the darkness that fulfilled his room while being deep in thought. He could not tell why Theo could sleep despite it all, as if it wasn't that much of a big deal. If this affected him in any way, he was good at hiding it.

Something about it all made Liam feel some type of way, as if a storm was coming that no one had a clue of apart from him. Something about the fact that all the evidence was gone was just insanely odd. And it freaked him out that he didn't know what. But he was soon to find out.

The next morning, to Liam's surprise, it was Theo to bring up the topic meanwhile Liam was getting ready for school.

"I'm going back.", Theo said, hinting towards the police department.

"Are you crazy?", Liam spat back, "I nearly got caught, and it was night. You can't walk into the Sheriff's office on the bright day and expect to succeed."

"I have to try at least.", Theo replied calmly. "Maybe you didn't look closely enough."

"Trust me.", Liam started and looked intensely into Theo's eyes. "There was nothing there."

Theo opened his mouth to argue, but didn't get to say anything as the doorbell ran in that exact moment.
Liam sighed and walked towards the front door, expecting to see his mother or step-dad that forgot something important before heading off to work. But instead the door revealed a nervous Stiles, resting between the door hinges trying to catch his breath.

"Liam", he breathed, "You have 5 minutes to explain."

Liam frowned, as suddenly Theo walked up behind him looking equally as confused.

"Hi Theo", Stiles casually remarked and looked back at Liam to continue what he was going to say. Suddenly his eyes wandered back to Theo and he seemed to have put one and two together, looking not only puzzled but as if caught off guard. "Wait— what?! What is Theo doing here?!"

Liam quickly turned around to take a look at Theo himself, then looked back at Stiles unsure of what to say.

"Oh fuck this is bad, this is really bad", Stiles said as he took a step back, attempting to bite his hand while he was staring at the floor unconscious. Liam and Theo just exchanged looks looking puzzled as they had no idea what Stiles was talking about. But before they could ask Stiles gaze already met Liam's again.

"Did he tell you to steal the evidence?!", Stiles asked him bluntly. As a result, Liam's jaw half-dropped and he had a struggle not to look at Theo's face to check if he was equally as confused as he was.

"What—"

"Someone broke into the Sheriff's department and stole a bunch of evidence.", Stiles rolled his eyes and then began gesturing around with his hands what resulted in Liam feeling even more nervous about it all, "And you are the one on the security cameras."

"I-I didn't steal anything.", Liam countered but figured he has never been good at lying. Also, Stiles had already notice his eye flinch while talking. "I mean, I was going to, but—"

In that moment, Stiles had clasped both his hands above his head with sudden movements that had prevented Liam from going on.

"I always knew you were a troubled one", Stiles mumbled, then put his hands back down. "Damn Liam, this is a fucking crime, alright. Thank god you aren't legal yet, or else they could get you to real jail, I mean actual jail, mate.", Stiles shook his head, and pulled himself together before he looked at Liam again.

"Listen, I told my dad I don't know why you would steal from him— apart from, like, if you are trying to cover someone up."

As Stiles spoke it out loud, his eyes lot up as if own words seemed to have suddenly made sense. His eyes wandered over to Theo and stared at him so intensely that it would even freak Theo Raeken out. He looked back at Liam as if Theo wasn't even there.

"Why?! Why, I mean, for Theo?"

"It wasn't me, Stiles.", Theo tried to come to word and sounded as calm and patient as ever, but Stiles didn't let him continue but shushed him with two fingers in the air.

"No no no, you're not going to fool anyone anymore."

"Come on, it isn't him who's responsible for the murder.", Liam began explaining but based on the skeptical look on Stiles face, this wasn't going to get him anywhere either.

"Then who is?", Stiles looked at the boy with full expectation. "See, you can't prove different."

"Stiles, man, you should know that things aren't as they seem sometimes", Theo finally spoke up, taking a few steps towards him so that he was now standing next to Liam.

"Something is telling me this is exactly what it seems like.", Stiles shot back and first eyeballed Theo, and then Liam. "What even is going on here, are you...? What? Liam!"

"What!", Liam groaned. He was sick of everyone sounding so surprised when everything they only ever just found out about now has actually already been going on for months. And the way that everyone spoke as if they got their tongue burned got on his nerve even more than the way they looked at him with a mix between disappointment and disgust.

"Don't tell me you and—", Stiles began pose his question but Liam just held his head up, standing still and stable.

"Yes."

"Oh wow. Okay, okay great. That, um, makes sense. Anyway. You're going to have to explain.", Stiles said and brushed through his hair, but only to cover up the deep breath he was taking to process the entire conversation. When he brought his hand back down he pointed towards the two of them.
"Both of you."

***

Shit's getting serious